ASSEDO (ODESSA spelled backwards) was built by Mathias Thesen Werft of East Germany as the SHOTA RUSTAVELI in 1968 as the fourth in a wonderful series of Soviet passenger liners called the IVAN FRANKO or "poet" class. The other four sisters were IVAN FRANKO (1964 -- scrapped at Alang in 1997), ALEXANDR PUSHKIN (1965 -- still sailing as Cruise and Maritime Voyages' vastly rebuilt MARCO POLO), TARAS SHEVCHENKO (1967 -- scrapped in Bangladesh in 2005) and MIKHAIL LERMONTOV (1972 -- sank off New Zealand in 1986). These ships had magically sleek lines with pronounced ice-strengthened bows, rounded superstructures, and tapered afterdecks. From the same era as NAL's glorious SAGAFJORD, their profiles (as built) were quite similar to the Norwegian beauty, if a bit more severe.

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Quite sadly, although the ship was enjoying a renaissance in European cruising as the ASSEDO from 2000 onwards, scrap prices were too tantalizing for her owners to ignore and the still very trim vessel sailed off to Alang under a cloud of secrecy in late 2003. Her heavy hull plating was surely well received.



These laminated plans were mounted in various passageways and showed where the muster stations were located in case of emergency. They are framed in varnished wood (oak?) and glass and only a limited quantity is available. Notations are in Cyrilic, German and English.

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